Harper closed her eyes. Normally, she’d run after Axel. She was tempted. She could be making a mistake by letting him go. But she’d been as happy as she could possibly be only half an hour earlier, when she was with Tobias—and now she felt like shit again.

“Hello?” the neighbor called over when she didn’t respond. “Is everything okay?”

It was an older woman—her gray hair in rollers with an old-fashioned net over them. “Everything’s fine. I’m sorry for disturbing you. The stress of the holidays can sometimes create a bit of…tension. That’s all it is.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

The neighbor still seemed skeptical. “Where’s Karoline? There’s never been any trouble over there before.”

Fortunately, Harper’s sister appeared with the car keys.

“Where’d he go?” Karoline asked when she didn’t see Axel in the yard.

Harper gestured down the street.

“Are you going after him?”

Harper stared at what she could see of his retreating back, which wasn’t much in the fog. She even took her keys in anticipation of following him. But then she handed them back. “No,” she said. “Not this time.”

Karoline’s mouth formed an O, but before she could comment, Harper jerked her head toward the older lady who’d come out. “I’m sorry, but you might need to walk over and talk to your neighbor, let her know everything’s fine. I can’t go over there looking like this.”

Karoline lifted Harper’s arm to show her that the seam was visible; she’d put her shirt on wrong side out. “I agree with you there. Go in and get some sleep. I’ll take care of Margaret, and then I’ll go after Axel.”

“He’s a big boy. He can get a motel in town or something.”

“I can’t let him walk. It’s safe now because the entire town is asleep. But he’s a celebrity. I don’t want anything to happen to him, and I don’t want this to be splashed across the tabloids.”

Tears came to Harper’s eyes. “You’re right, of course. I wasn’t thinking. Thank you.”

“That’s what sisters are for.”

When Harper started to slip past her, Karoline caught hold of her wrist. “So…you spent the night with Tobias? That’s where you’ve been?”

Harper wiped her eyes. “Yes.”

“Was this the first time?”

“No,” she said on a sigh.

“I see.” Karoline bit her bottom lip. “Must be going well between you two.”

“I think I’m falling in love with him,” she admitted.

“Really?”

“I don’t know how else to explain what I’m feeling.”

“But so fast, Harper? How can you trust that?”

“I don’t know if I can,” she admitted. “That’s the problem.”

Karoline squeezed her arm. “You have a good head on your shoulders. You’ll figure it out.”